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Reply to "Williams 4000 Hudson (cab 5405) Does this have a smoke unit?"

I was under the impression that the motors Williams used were rated for 12-30 volts.  Right-of-Way made a 400W transformer that went up to 24 volts, and Lionel's prewar Z transformer did, as well.  This kind of voltage and current are required to make these locos run at prototypical passenger speeds (IMO that only makes sense if you have a very long layout!)

Yes, things get noisy at high RPMs and the brass shell amplifies that sound.  There's a reason they don't make tubas out of die-cast metal!  I discovered that a piece of DynaXorb in the boiler shell quiets things down a lot.

Mike Wolf and Andy Edelman had a lot of experience selling Williams.  My theory is when MTH started making "scale" trains, they purposely chose a tall gear ratio to keep the RPMs down, because they didn't want to field complaints about NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness.)  Unfortunately, low-speed performance in the Proto-1 era left a LOT to be desired. 

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
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